Cohiba is the finest premium cigar produced in Cuba. They are flawless. The tobacco has undregone an extra fermentation process. As perfect as a cigar can be made.

And the most pricey. Prices are set by the government. There are no deals. Cuban cigars are not cheap, even in Cuba. Yours truly has only smoked one of these in my life. Too expensive.

Inside warning: do not buy cigars on the street or beach in Cuba -- they are likely made not of tobacco, but of shredded banana leaves.

Cohiba was initiated by Castro as a limited production/private brand for the rich. Before he quit smoking these were his favorite. They are still given as diplomatic gifts. So much for his communism babble about everyone being equal.

This had been the most bustling parish in downtown Havana. It was Franciscan. Located in a great part of Old Town, just a few footsteps from the famous Port of Havana, which connected the New World to the Old World. Today it is a concert hall. It would be nice to see it and the historic attached monastery given back to Franciscans. It has been owned by the government since 1907. In 1762, the year of the English control over Havana, the British commandeered the church for Anglican services.

Churches can be seen everywhere in Cuba. It was not like the Russian Revolution where many churches were destroyed and no one was permitted to rebuild. Many of these churches have been constructed after the Cuban Revolution.

The Communism in Cuba came later after the Revolution and it was not Soviet-style, but a languid Caribbean style. Cubans are very laid back.

Castro's story is quite sad. He had been partly educated by Spanish Jesuits (he came from a wealthy, Spanish-Cuban family, land owners). Castro was a gifted student, an educated man, a college graduate, he spoke English quite well in my opinion, he was a lawyer and honeymooned in New York City.

Then it all changed when he got mixed up in the spirit of violent revolution -- killing one regime to replace it with more of the same. The people cry out to be freed from bondage. Blame is the one thing he did best.

De Soto was a great car, sadly dropped in 1960. Bring it back along with Pontiac and Packard!

The auto marque was named after the great Spanish explorer and conquistador
who led the first European expedition into the United States (Florida, Georgia and Alabama). He was also the first documented European to cross the
mighty Mississippi River.

The garden, located at the foot of the Mount of Olives, where Christ and friends would customarily visit. Several of the olive trees in the garden are the oldest known in the world. The Franciscans had many of these crosses made back in the day. This was brought back by Cuban pilgrims, taken during the first Spanish-American joint pilgrimage to the Holy Land and Rome in 1914. Located in Havana Cathedral.

Sad to see this affront to Western civilization, thrust upon an illustrious Catholic country.

Masonic temples are seen across the tiny island of Cuba. This is the largest. Today it is falling apart, just like everything else in Cuba, except for the secluded family mansions of the many members of the Castro family.

There is a lovely neo-Gothic Catholic church located just across and down the street which the Pope visited.

The Masons, every anti-clerical, were more than happy to foment revolution in this tiny, Catholic, island paradise. They won. The people have suffered immensely.

Surely this was built by American money just as surely as Masonry was brought to Cuba by the English.